Well, having said all that, there might be another interpretation, dark in a different direction. Tom saw his horse dying and "making her will". He loved his horse and cried for her death--did he decide to do in this careless bunch for horse abuse?

Well, perhaps he thought the thought and, who knows, decided to write a ballad about it instead of committing eight murders to avenge his horse. If he had done so in reality in the early 1800s there would likely be a record of it.

I don't believe in superficial meanings. Folk songs run deep, although it isn't easy to figure them out when the origins are far back in time. However, I've come to think that the reason they survive time is because they run deep.